116 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



visit an old-fashioned hay field in the good county 

 of Chenango, it would almost repay him to come 

 on a pilgrimage here, where one of our old-fashioned 

 farmers would, with his two boys, and a school 

 girl or two to help just before night, mow down 

 and get into the barn as much grass in a day as he 

 would with his machine in Ohio, and perhaps more; 

 and aft^r work, pitch the mowing machine, if one 

 should be left in the way, into the street at night. 



E. A. BUNDY. 



Ooford, Chmcmgo Co., N. Y., Jan'ij, 185& 



EAPE-ITS USES. 



Eds. Gkneseb Farmer: — During the past sum- 

 mer, rape has been grown to a considerable extent 

 in this county ; and, judging from my own experi- 

 ence, it is a plant that in some measure will prove 

 to be a valuable substitute for vetches, so useful to 

 farmers in England, though not adapted to our 

 Canadian climate. 



I purchased seed in the spring, intending to pre- 

 pare a piece of land properly for its reception, but 

 the excessively wet weather prevented this. How- 

 ever, I sowed a few drills that had been prepared 

 for turnips, leaving the plants six inches apart in 

 the drills. This grew three to four feet high, and 

 completely covered the ground in about seventy 

 days. One month from the time it was cut, there 

 was quite a second growth from the stumps. 



On the 8th of July, I mowed about two acres tliat 

 had been enclosed in the spring for the purpose of 

 adding it to my fruit and vegetable garden this fall, 

 and, a-s it could not bo pastured, or mowed the 

 second time to advantage,' I plowed it, harrowed it 

 well, and sowed it with rape on the 15th, covering 

 it with a bush. The wet weather was favorable to 

 ita growth, and it soon covered the ground. Where 

 it happened to be sown thin, (for it was sown too 

 thick on the whole,) I should say there were four 

 tons per acre. It has been very profitable to me in 

 forwarding my fat cattle and keeping milch cows in 

 good order for winter. I killed one cow fed on that 

 alone, which was very fat. Two others and a pair 

 of oxen were fed on it until the middle of last month, 

 when they were stabled, and since then have been 

 fed on hay twice a day, and white turnips, tops and 

 roots together, three times. They get no water or 

 exercise. I shall follow the white turnips with 

 Swedish, then mangels and sugar beets. If they 

 continue another month as they have done the last, 

 I shall have fat cattle in a short time. 



Next summer, if spared, I intend to grow it both 

 for feed and green manure in the following manner : 

 The land manured and plowed this fall ; next spring 

 it miist be cultivated and drilled as for turnips, 

 using the horse-hoe to keep clean. By the time 

 pastures get bare and the aftermath is growing, it 

 will furnish an abundance of green fodder for the 

 oows and sheep ; and before the end of harvest, it 

 will grow the second time as much as can be plowed 

 under. This, together with the large fibrous roots, 

 must certainly furnish a great deal of nutriment for 

 the succeeding crops. 



To small farmers, like myself, it must, I think, 

 prove invaluable, as we can atFord to summer fallow 

 but little ; neither can we allow much to be used as 

 pasture. js. w. s. 



Woodeiock, a W., Btc, 1857. 



ASHES AS A MANUBE. 



Eds. (ienesee Farmer ; — What a mass of inform- 

 ation might be obtained on all the details of agricul- 

 tural practice, would each one who has experimented 



— in the use of difiercnt fertilizers, for instance — 

 communicate that experience to the public. 



Ashes we believe to be of material benefit to all 

 dry soils, and to all crops grown upon them. Some 

 years since, we applied a dressing of about twenty- 

 five bushels per acre, to a portion of gravelly loam 

 soil, in grass at the time, to the manifest improve- 

 ment of that crop. Afterward, it was plowed up 

 and planted to corn and potatoes, and there was a 

 marked diflference in the growth and product, com- 

 pared with portions of the field unashod. The 

 potato vines were much more thrifty — far less 

 injured by the drouth, and the crop fair and good 



— more than double that on like soil to which no 

 ashes were applied. The corn, also, was excellent. 



The effect of the application of ashes in quantity 

 is felt for several years. I saw very little diminu- 

 tion in the dilferei ce above noticed, the last year, 

 though the whole field was manured freely and 

 planted to diflferent garden crops. Any one can 

 see the long continued effect of ashes, in the fertility 

 following the burning of log heaps in the field. 



As a top-dressing for corn, about two t^ble- 

 spoonfuls to a hill, applied as soon as the corn is 

 fairly above ground, has been found of great benefit . 

 We would not forego their use, even if we coujd 

 get twenty-five cents a bushel for all the ashes we 

 made. We have noticed, again and again, a plain 

 difterence in the yield of corn fields dressed and 

 undressed ; and believe that ashes hasten the matu- 

 rity as well as increase the product of the crop 

 enough to pay double that amount in return for the 

 application. 



In the garden, we always use ashes freely ; and 

 our garden will compare favorably with other farm- 

 ers' gardens. For all kinds of roots and vines, they 

 are excellent fertilizers, and assist in preventing the 

 depredations of various bugs and worms, so plenti- 

 ful in summer, and so often injuring materially the 

 various vegetables. 



Other manures should be used, and used freely ; 

 but ashes will assist in bringing their virtues into 

 the state most available to the crop, as well as 

 having a beneficial effect upon the soil. We have 

 often noticed mellow spots where ashes had been 

 freely applied, both in the case of log heaps before 

 noticed and in instances where they were spread 

 upon the surface of dry, light land. a. b. 



Milking Young Cows. — It is said that young 

 cows, the first year they give milk, may be made, 

 with careful milking and good keeping, to give milk 

 almost any length of time deemed desirable; but 

 that if they are allowed to dry up early in the fall, 

 they will, if they have a calf at thd same season, 

 dry up at the same time each succeeding year, and 

 nothing but extra feed will prevent it, and that but 

 for a short time. 



Lice on Calves. — I have discovered a method of 

 ridding calves of lice. Give them flax seed. I am 

 wintering eight calves; they became very lousy, 

 and I fed them half a pint at a time for two days, 

 and the oil from it drove the lice all off. ClBCS 

 Ayebt. — Camptown, Pa., March, 1858. 



